It's pretty much what Italian comfort food is supposed to taste like - Â a very close to perfect mix of cheese, garlic, tomatoes & bread/pasta.
It isn't "the best I've ever had" (that would be Grandma's!) but it's good. The pesto was even better the next day. And I used some of the leftover roasted garlic on a sandwich.
Yeah, I could make lots of it myself, or I could let someone else do all the work so that I can just enjoy it. Â Since A Touch of Garlic seems to care about their food/menu & quality, I feel like I can enjoy it that much more.
are you ready to take a trip back to the 80's??? Â then come on down to A Touch of Garlic because thats where you';ll be transported to...outdated decor (please do something about the curtains!) ...glass topped tables with white table cloths (dont want to get those tablecloths dirty!)...cheesy decorations...this place has it all!!!
i know its a "neighborhood" restaurant but you can have that and still have a current vibe!
my wife and i started with 2 glasses of Rodney Strong cabernet priced affordably at $7.95...a great red wine but served in what appeared to be a dirty glass...lets get those wine glasses polished !!!
now...about the food...it was the only reason i gave this restaurant 4 stars and i suppose thats the most important thing about a restaurant...good food!
we started with the roasted garlic bulbs served with cheese crostini with a compote of gorgonzola and sun dried tomatoes...pretty good, a little bland but at $8.95 a little pricey. the complimentary house salad was ok. try the creamy garlic dressing... it was delicious. for our main courses i had the lasagna, my wife had the penne with pesto sauce (a little salty!) and my son had linguine bolognese with a meat ball. the lasagna (advertised as "Mama's Lasagna) was not as good as my mothers (is it ever?) but it really meaty and wonderfully cheesy. Â i liked it and would order it again. my sons entree was as advertised linguine with a very meaty sauce and a wonderful meatball...he loved it!
for desert we ordered the creme caramel (a little too sweet!) and the vanilla bread pudding with housemade peach caramel ice cream . the bread pudding was good but needed more ice cream. the deserts are smartly priced at about $4.95 each so you can try two and only pay for what most restaurants charge for one!!!
the service was adequate,not great.
from the first person you meet to the last this is a family run establishment and it shows!
Touch of Garlic has been a favorite for many years.  The food is always delicious. It is the kind of neighborhood  restaurant where everything is freshly made and the kind of food that makes you want to just sit back with a glass of wine and enjoy the flavorful meal. The service is friendly and attentive without hovering. Â
The appetizer  Calamari Fra Diavlo is delicious, with a strong spicy kick to it.  We are partial to the unhealthier fried version over the sauteed version.  The warm bread on the table is great to soak up the sauce. Â
There are several menu staples that are my families favorites including the Linguine Pescatore, the Eggplant Rollatini and the Veal Guiseppe. Â We have never been disappointed in the meals. Â The portions are big, big enough for two to share one meal. Â
Make sure to save room for dessert. Â The warm Bread Pudding is delicious, The Carrot Cake and "Kara"Misu (named after it's baker).
All in all, it is a warm, casual restaurant not to be missed in Springfield.
Really great restaurant in the most unexpected of neighborhoods. Service is friendly and attentive. I've never been in there with a packed house so I've never had an issue with parking. Amazing appetizers' such as, the blackened scallops and roasted garlic bulb. Entrees are creative and very tasty, but sometimes are weighed down with heavy cream sauces. In other words, it's not "light fare". The atmosphere is quiet and stress free. The only complaint I'd have would be the tacky advertising under the glass table tops and the outdated decor. Other than that it would be five stars for me.
Note: All house wines are a sufficient and reasonable choice.
Had dinner in July 2011. Â Every Tuesday thru Thursday, great pasta special. Â The rose dish could have had more flavor. The ala vodka with cheese tortellini was good. Service was very good, but we were also there at 5pm when they opened so nobody else was there. They have a large menu and the wine is both inexpensive and good
Review Source:I live around the corner from Touch of Garlic. There are two excellent upscale Italian Restaurants in Forest Park: Typical Sicilian and Touch of Garlic. For some reason Typical Sicilian gets more reviews but I think Touch of Garlic has the edge. Consistency is the key to professional cooking and I have never had a less than just right meal here. If you want to keep the check down go during the week for the pasta specials where you choose from several pastas and several sauces. Â My favorite is the pasta puttanesca. I prefer the dining room with the bar because the shape of the room is more intimate.
Each year at Thanksgiving the owners put on a completely free feast for the poor. If you stop in in November remember to thank them for that. Good place. Good owners.
A Touch of Garlic? More like a touch of awesome.
I went there on a Friday night around 8. There are two rooms, a smaller one to the right and a larger dining room to the left. We were hoping for the quiet intimacy of the smaller room, but the hostess told us that side was full. However, the tables in the larger dining room have partitions between them, so it felt like we were all alone. Score one for A Touch of Garlic.
We ordered a bottle of red wine, which was very reasonably priced. Maybe I'm just used to downtown Boston prices. I ordered the Shrimp Florentine, and my dining companion ordered a special that was chicken layered with roasted red peppers, covered in a spinach cream sauce, atop a pile of mashed potatoes. Both of us ordered our salads with the balsamic dressing. They put a lot more dressing than I would have used, but it still tasted great. The meals came out, and I wanted to hug my plate. My shrimp sat on a delicious bed of pasta, roasted red peppers, tons of spinach, mozzarella, and a white wine and (touch of) garlic sauce. Have you ever eaten a meal that was so good that you wanted to keep eating even though you were full? Yeah, it was just like that. I wish I had finished it! The chicken special was wonderful too, that spinach cream sauce should be sold by the jar. The service was great, we had two attendants that were so friendly.
This place came highly recommended and now I am paying it forward by recommending it to you.
This was our first time visiting after hearing many good things. Arrived early on a Saturday night and beat the rush. A Touch of Garlic immediately impressed me with their calamari appetizer. You choose fried or sautéd and one of three sauces. I chose sautéd in bianco sauce which was a white wine sauce with olives, hot peppers, tomatoes, etc. It was outstanding! There was tons of calamari and well worth the $10. Bread served with olive oil and vinegar was provided for us. My meal came with a salad which had a good variety of veggies and tasted great. My meal was what I thought as a rarity for an Italian restaurant, Ginger Thai, a farfalle, chicken, and shrimp dish in thai peanut sauce with sesame seeds, red peppers, scallions, and broccoli. What an outstanding dish! My girlfriend had a dinner special of paste, chicken, shrimp, and andouille sausage which she loved as well. Both of us went home with leftovers for the next day's lunch. The service was very attentive and friendly. $50 total for $10 app and two $20 entrees plus left overs for another meal.
I can't wait to go back!
Draft beer selection included 3 beers from Berkshire Brewing Company: Shabadoo black & tan, steel rail extra pale ale, and cabin fever. Also on tap was Red Hook Long Hammer IPA. They also had a full bar and extensive wine list.
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